A blog about the Iraqi cuisine from ancient Mesopotamian times to the present, by Nawal Nasrallah, author of Delights from the Garden of Eden, 2003. A new fully revised edition is released (UK: Equinox Publishing, 2013). TLS (Nov 1, 2013) said about it:
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Take chickpeas and after they boil, pound them finely with vinegar, olive oil, tahini (sesame paste), black pepper, atraf teeb (spice blend), mint, parsley, and dried thyme. Add [and continue pounding] shelled walnut, hazelnut, almond, and pistachio, as well as Ceylon cinnamon, toasted caraway seeds, coriander seeds, salt, lemon preserved in salt, and olives. Stir all to blend, and them spread [on a plate] and set aside overnight, and eat it. It will be wonderful, God willing.

This recipe and several variations on it occur in other cookbooks belonging to the same period. The following Himmas Kassa is from 13th-century Syrian cookbook Al-wusla ila'l-Habeed fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa'l-Teeb (Winning the Beloved's Heart with Delectable Dishes and Perfumes) by famous historian Ibn al-'Adeem of Aleppo (d. 1262) , pp. 2:718-19.

The recipe is more or less similar to the one quoted earlier, albeit with more details, especially important are the ones provided at the end of the recipe: After the hummus is spread, the recipe mentions that it should be drizzled with a lot of olive oil, with chopped parsley (baqdunis), sprinkled on it, along with chopped pistachio, cinnamon and crushed rose buds. Interestingly, the recipe suggests that the dish will look quite nice if some whole boiled chickpeas are also put on the top. Such details would surely make it look so much similar to the way hummus is traditionally garnished in our time, but of course minus the chili pepper, which came later to the region.

An important detail also tucked at the end of the recipe is about the dip's consistency: it has to hold its shape when picked up with a piece of bread. Like today, this food was offered as an appetizer: a cold dish -- a dip with bread -- to be consumed before the main hot dishes. Eleven recipes are given, including one similar to the recipe quoted above, in the 14th-century anonymous Egyptian cookbook Kanz al-Fawa'id fi Tanwi' al-Mawa'id (Infinite Benefits of Variety at the Table). Here is one of them:

The recipe this time does not use nuts, but it is also garnished the same as the one above it: It is spread in a shallow bowl, and sprinkled with black olives, crushed toasted hazelnut, a bit of spices, rue, and mint.

A modernized recipe for making medieval himmas kassa:

(Makes 4 servings)

1 cup boiled chickpeas

2 tablespoons tahini, stirred with water and wine vinegar, 2
tablespoons of each

1. Put all the ingredients, except for the salted lemon, in a
food processor, and pulse the mix until it looks smooth. The mix should look
green. Add more of the herbs if needed. The consistency of the mix should be thick
enough to pick up with a piece of bread. Add a bit more lemon juice if needed.

2. Fold in the chopped salted lemon, and use. To serve a dish,
spread the condiment on a plate, drizzle a generous amount of olive oil all
over its face, garnish it with chopped parsley, and give it a light sprinkle of
cinnamon and crushed rose petals if used.

Unfortunately, after the 14th century, there was a long period of silence, until we approach the second half of the 19th century. A Lebanese cookbook entitled Kitab Tadhkirat al-Khwateen wa Ustadh al-Tabbakheen (The Mater Chef's Culinary Memento for Housewives) by Khaleel Sarkees (1885) contains a recipe called Hummus Mutabbal bi'l Zait:

The recipe uses the basic ingredients that make up our traditional dip Hummus bi'Taheena: chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, and tahini. The recipe specifies that it should not be runny in consistency, and that after it is spread on a plate it is sprinkled with sweet-tasting olive oil and finely chopped chervil/parsley.

The name itself, Hummus Mutabbal (حمص متبل), might be translated as spiced chickpeas, but since the recipe does not use any spices, I am more inclined to interpret mutabbal as 'ground', for indeed this is the original meaning of the Arabic word t-b-l (تبّل) 'to crush, to grind.'

The chickpeas are always pounded or mashed to make this particular dish. Besides, ground spice/spices are usually called tabil/ tawabil; and quite likely this could be the reason why tabboula/tabbouli was called so in the first place, since tabboula is not tabboula if it is not chopped finely. Indeed, the word can be traced all the way back to the ancient Mesopotamian times, when 'tabilu' meant 'ground' in the Akkadian language (Jean Bottero, The Oldest Cuisine in the World, p. 57).

In the Levant today, some cooks still call this appetizer by the name mutabbal hummus, and its 'cousin' made with eggplant, mutabbal badhinjan, instead of baba ghannouj, which confirm my hunch that mutabbal basically designates 'mashing and pounding'.

A Hummus bi Tahina Recipe, with a Bit of History:

They dug a pit in the sunlight.
Then Gilgamesh went up on the mountain.
He poured out his chickpeas into the pit.
"Oh, Mountain, grant (me) a dream…"
(Epic of Gilgamish, quoted in Martin Levey, Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia, p.50)

Both sesame (Akkadian 'samsamu') and chickpeas (Akkadian 'amusu') were valued field cash products, grown in abundance in the entire ancient Fertile Crescent region. Sesame oil has always been an essential food item in their diet until recently. As for chickpeas, their nutritious value has always been acknowledged, as in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where it was chosen as one of the
victuals he carried with him on his journeys.

In the medieval times, other
potentialities were attributed to chickpeas such as aphrodisiac ones. It was believed
to possess the three essential elements required to achieve this Viagra-effect.
Food has to be hot in nature, it has to be nutritious and moist enough to
increase sperm, and it has to have the power to generate enough wind to fill
and stiffen the veins of the ‘equipment,’ as explained in the medieval Arabic books on dietetics and botany.

Chickpeas simmered to tenderness, lablabi. This is a very traditional snack food in Iraq, simple, basic, and very ancient, no doubt. As for tuning it into a dip by combining it with tahini (rashi, in the Iraqi dialect, derived from classical Arabic rahshi, all mean 'crushed'), the written documents can only take us as far back as the 13th century, but dishes like hummus must have been prepared much earlier than that, so that by medieval times it was already a staple with a lot of variations.

The above recipe from the first cookbook in the history of modern Iraq Recipes from Baghdad, 1946, is a basic hummus recipe for an appetizer, which seems to have already become the hallmark of the mainstream Middle Eastern-Arab cuisine. Now to my recipe: Although hummus, fresh or canned, is readily available in stores, homemade
variety is definitely tastier and cheaper. You may use whole chickpeas, which
you soak and cook yourself. However, canned chickpeas can be very handy if you
want to make hummus in just five
minutes. For a smoother texture, use dried yellow split chickpeas (dried split
peas will give similar taste, and they do not need to be soaked overnight).

1. Boil the chickpeas until tender, and then drain them, but reserve some of the liquid..

2. Put cooled down chickpeas or
canned ones in a blender or food processor, and purée for a minute or two.
If canned chickpeas look rather dry, add about ¼ cup water. Then add garlic, cumin if used, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. Add tahini, and blend for a minute or two until mixture looks smooth,
lighter in color, and of spreading consistency. If it looks rather dry, add a
small amount of the reserved liquid or just plain cold water. Check for salt
and lemon juice. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

3.
Remedies for not so perfect hummus:

*If
it is a little thick and heavy in texture, add some cold water or reserved
chickpeas liquid, and adjust seasoning.

*If
the consistency is good but it still needs more tartness, use a little of unsweetened lemonade powder.

*If
the taste of chickpeas still overpowers, add a little more tahini, until you get a balanced taste.

6 comments:

Thank you for this wonderful historical overview of what is quickly becoming everyone's favorite dish! Especially, I'm glad to see lablabi featured as well, as it vies for my top favorite over the blended version.

You mentioned that Al-wusla ila'l-Habeeb was written by Ibn al-Adeem, but other sources I saw claim it is by another author called al-Jazzar (d. 669 or 679 H)? e.g. see http://archive.sakhrit.co/newPreview.aspx?PID=2168443&ISSUEID=9955&AID=200073

Abdullah, the source you mention does not get the facts right about Rodinson's famous research on Arabic culinary manuscripts (1949), originally written in French. The fact of the matter is that one of the 10 surviving manuscripts of Al-Wusla was bound with a book by Ibn al-Jazzar, titled Fwa'id al-Mawa'id, which is followed by Al-Wusla. This made some speculate that both books might have been written by the same author.

Authorship of al-Wusla by Ibn al-'Adeem was mentioned in some of the surviving manuscripts, whereas others were left anonymousl.

Al-Wusla was thoroughly studied and edited by two Syrian scholars Sulayma Mahjub and Durriyya al-Khateeb (1986). They lean towards the possibility that Ibn al-Adeem was indeed the author, and I tend to side with them.

If you like to have a look at their edition, you can find it in the following link:

About Me

I am an independent Iraqi scholar, passionate about cooking and its history and culture, an award-winning researcher and food writer. The first edition of my cookbook Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of the Iraqi Cuisine (2003) is winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards,. It is now released in a new revised edition, elegantly styled and generously illustrated with color photos (Equinox Publishing, UK). My book Dates: A Global History (Edible Series, Reaktion Books) was released in April 2011. A charming account of the date palm and its fruit, informative and fun to read. My English translation of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century Baghdadi cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, entitled Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens (Brill, 2007), was awarded "Best Translation in the World" and "Best of the Best of the Past 12 Years" of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2007. It also received Honorable Mention in 2007 Arab American National Museum Book Awards. I co-authored Beginner's Iraqi Arabic, with 2 audio CDs (Hippocrene,2005) I have been giving cooking classes and presentations on the Iraqi cuisine. Visit my website www.iraqicookbook.